froze
Über Member
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
If you're riding a bike further than you want to walk back home then you should carry a spare tube, patches, tire levers, alcohol cleaning pads, and of course a pump.
First off let's discuss air delivery systems. I saw that some recommended CO2, that's fine, it's really only necessary though if you're racing and are responsible to fix your own tires, but there are cons to CO2. CO2 will naturally leak out of your tube at about 50% per day, this means when you get home you have to deflate your tire and refill with pump air; I don't know about you but I don't like doing work twice, so I carry a pump. Also CO2 air is not free, you have to buy it and make sure you have at least 2 carts in you saddlebag, but what happens on an odd day if you have more flats than carts? Now you're back to walking. Also you have to throw away spent carts, I think a lot of riders just toss them on the side of the road because that's where I see a lot of them, but you should be carrying those carts back home and throwing them properly. There is another option and that's called a hybrid pump, this is a pump that combines a CO2 inflator with a pump, if I was going to CO2 that is what I would get, and probably the best one on the market is the Lezyne Pressure Drive CFH. Again though I prefer not to pay for air or have to do my work twice so a pump is the only way I'll go, and I think the Lezyne Road Drive (large) is the best of the ones that will actually reach 100 psi which there are only 2 or 3,maybe 4 tops that will! Note I put the word "large" in quotations and that's because Lezyne makes it 3 sizes, I seriously doubt the smaller 2 sizes will get to 100.
Tire levers; there are a lot on the market, just choose two but be careful not to get cheap ones because they can break while installing a tire. I really like the Soma Steel Core levers, but again there are plenty.
Alcohol pads are for cleaning the tube after you have buffed the tube, this is so the patch will stick better.
Patches again are a personal thing, I've had great success with glueless patches for over 20 years but others have not, I like the fact I don't have to deal with glue or finding a dry glue tube when trying to fix a flat. Anyway if you want to know how to use glueless patches let me know.
Another personal thing, in this I'm backwards from most people but I prefer to patch a tube when I have a flat rather than replace the tube first, because I can usually find the offending hole fast and repair it faster than replacing the tube. I do this by leaving the wheel on the bike, then take off about 1/2 of the bead of one side with the penetration point in the center of the half, then pull about a 1/3rd of the tube out with the penetration point in the center. Check the inside of the tire for any object stuck in the tire, patch the tube and re-stuff and mount the tire.
First off let's discuss air delivery systems. I saw that some recommended CO2, that's fine, it's really only necessary though if you're racing and are responsible to fix your own tires, but there are cons to CO2. CO2 will naturally leak out of your tube at about 50% per day, this means when you get home you have to deflate your tire and refill with pump air; I don't know about you but I don't like doing work twice, so I carry a pump. Also CO2 air is not free, you have to buy it and make sure you have at least 2 carts in you saddlebag, but what happens on an odd day if you have more flats than carts? Now you're back to walking. Also you have to throw away spent carts, I think a lot of riders just toss them on the side of the road because that's where I see a lot of them, but you should be carrying those carts back home and throwing them properly. There is another option and that's called a hybrid pump, this is a pump that combines a CO2 inflator with a pump, if I was going to CO2 that is what I would get, and probably the best one on the market is the Lezyne Pressure Drive CFH. Again though I prefer not to pay for air or have to do my work twice so a pump is the only way I'll go, and I think the Lezyne Road Drive (large) is the best of the ones that will actually reach 100 psi which there are only 2 or 3,maybe 4 tops that will! Note I put the word "large" in quotations and that's because Lezyne makes it 3 sizes, I seriously doubt the smaller 2 sizes will get to 100.
Tire levers; there are a lot on the market, just choose two but be careful not to get cheap ones because they can break while installing a tire. I really like the Soma Steel Core levers, but again there are plenty.
Alcohol pads are for cleaning the tube after you have buffed the tube, this is so the patch will stick better.
Patches again are a personal thing, I've had great success with glueless patches for over 20 years but others have not, I like the fact I don't have to deal with glue or finding a dry glue tube when trying to fix a flat. Anyway if you want to know how to use glueless patches let me know.
Another personal thing, in this I'm backwards from most people but I prefer to patch a tube when I have a flat rather than replace the tube first, because I can usually find the offending hole fast and repair it faster than replacing the tube. I do this by leaving the wheel on the bike, then take off about 1/2 of the bead of one side with the penetration point in the center of the half, then pull about a 1/3rd of the tube out with the penetration point in the center. Check the inside of the tire for any object stuck in the tire, patch the tube and re-stuff and mount the tire.
